Teaching English as a Second Language

Hello Fellow Edufireans..

I was wondering.. when teaching English as a 2nd language, do you think it helps that the teacher also speaks the native language of the students she (or he) is teaching? I’m curious to know the opinions from the scholars here at eduFire!

Thanks in advance for your comments, opinions, ideas, gripes… or whatever else you would like to offer. =)

Brandi! From my experience Its NOT necessary!

I’ve often thought about this question. I agree with Enrique that it’s not necessary to speak the student’s native language.

But, that being said, I couldn’t imagine working with people whose first language isn’t English if I had never studied other languages. I think I better understand what language-learners go through because I’ve been in their shoes as a language-learner myself. I’ve also been in social situations with non-English-speaking people when I couldn’t figure out a word anybody was saying. I think one has to experience this to be more sensitive to a student.

It helps, but its not necessary!

i think it helps a lot to speak the native language of the student. it would be much easier for the students to understand some grammatical rules when explained in their own native language. also, some words and expressions are related to the culture of that language and has to be explained in the native language of the student. from my own personal experience, it is very important to speak the native language of the student.

I guess it makes the teaching process waaaay easier. I’m currently teaching English to a native speaker of Russian. Since I am very well aware of the principles of Russian grammar, it’s very effective to base many things on some kind of contrastive analysis of both languages on the level of grammar (as well as phonetics, vocabulary etc). However, if the student has a good level of English already (and that’s the only case when it’s possible to teach them without speaking their first language), it’s of course possible to efficiently teach them. But I prefer being able to refer to a couple of fact in the student’s mother tongue.

I have just a sudent now. And she needs lessons in her native language. She is just beginner and it is easier for her to understand some grammar in her native language. But if you learn language for a long time it is not necessary.

I have taught conversational english and spanish to Japanese, Koreans, Russians, French, Germans, and so on…..And I don’t speak a word of the above mentioned languages. And my students only spoke the target language.

So, as I said before, its not necessary to speak the student’s native language….it helps, but its not necessary!

I am of the same opinion as Abdul Halim as if a student not of an advanced level when he only needs bla-bla-bla to know his native language I mean as minimum to have general notions of grammar and phonetics but not only to speak is very important for a teacher. I’ve had students of different age groups and even kids of 5 years old asked why and how so for me it was easy to explain and the student understands better. It is always easier to understand grammar or pronunciation using analogues of a native language. As for my own experience it was very helpful and students got some difficult material without problems when I gave examples using forms of their native languages.

Thank you everyone so much for your thoughts/opinions.. I really appreciate them and your time!! =)

As a teacher, I personally do not feel that I need to know the native language of my students.

As a student, my personal preference is that my teacher speak my native language when teaching me another language. This helps me when I need certain words or grammatical forms clarified.

Really, thanks again for your posts!!

Not only does it help, it is essential. When I studied French in Paris, it was an impossibility for the teacher to speak anything but French. With a class of 20 people and more than half spoke 9 different languages, how would a teacher be able to communicate to each student in that student’s native tongue. By “forcing” us to listen to French, our ears became “tuned” to the sound. Within a short period of time the sounds were clear. Think of it this way, the student is in an English speaking country and is subjected to hearing English, thus, we as the teacher must
speak English or the student will use the native tongue/translation as a crutch.

sure all cases are different and everyone chooses what is better for him in a particular situation as there are many different methods of foreign language learning as I understood you correctly you learnt French using “immersion” or smth similar and if now you can say that you have very good knowledge of French thanks to this method are you sure that other members of your group have the same result?

I have not conducted any polls nor do I have statistics on this issue.
I live in a predominantly Hispanic city in which 20 percent of the population does not speak English.
EST course taught here are completely successful by not using the student’s native language.

I teach French to little kiddies and I only speak in French. Using gestures, etc. the “pick up” what I am saying. And that’s intended for a discussion on “kids learn quicker” which is BS.

I’ve been enjoying this thread. As a native English speaker who does tutoring and editing, I’d like to add some comments.

As I posted earlier, in my opinion, it doesn’t generally matter whether I speak the native language of my client/student. Almost everyone who isn’t a native English speaker demonstrates similar issues with the English language. It’s interesting to me that this is true regardless of the person’s native language. . . .

So, even though I do not know many different languages, I recognize patterns and anticipate the challenges that people have with English.

E.g., who doesn’t do battle with English prepositions, unpredictable spellings, and identical letter strings with different pronounciations?

But it’s not just non-native speakers who face challenges with English! I see that U.S. college students who are native speakers demonstrate many language issues. I’ve noticed the patterns while reading and grading hundreds of college exam essays.

One little issue that comes to mind is possessives. A great number of students avoid possessives altogether because they haven’t retained the formation rules or memorized idiomatic usages. I’m not saying that possessives are a “big deal,” but that I observe how they confuse and annoy even native English speakers.

• Do you remember all the rules for plural possessives, which vary according to style guide?

• Do you find it easy to explain why we say “a computer expert” but not “a computer’s expert”?

• Do you know of a language more confused and confusing than English? Ha!

:)

DJ,
I am total agreement with you.
Now, if English teachers really want to have some “fun,” try teaching the 7 words that end
in “ough.”
Even Rici and Lucy did a skit one that one in “I Love Lucy” in the 50’s.

Ron

…
…
…
…
…
…
…y
…. .
…)

…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…k
…
…
…
…
…
…re!

…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…!

…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…

Re. my last post: Who knows what the heck it said.

The extraterrestials who received Bebo messages from Ukraine appear to be responding on eduFire.

I think the answer depends on how much of your language the student already knows. It’s no problem not to know the native language of pre-intermediate or higher, but for a complete beginner, it’s helpful to be able to translate and explain.
Also, I believe that language comparison is a great teaching tool. It helps to understand the structure of language, to see how the way to express some concept differ. I think it enhances understanding. But one shouldn’t overdo it and transform a language class into discussion on language philosophy.

Agreed, Yulia: If you’re teaching beginning language lessons, it’s helpful to speak the student’s language. :) And don’t “transform a language class into discussion on language philosophy.”

I’m on the other end of the language-teaching spectrum, usually helping an advanced English-language student develop, revise, or polish a presentation or paper. There’s rarely time for discussion of anything that doesn’t directly strengthen the presentation and get it finished on-time. . . . Usually, there’s barely time to take brb or eat a snack. :o

…

Wow… great posts…. from some great & educated people. Your opinions are wonderful & definitely make me think!! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts/opinions!! Please… keep them coming! =)

Don’t include me in the “educated.” I just happened to be born in an English speaking nation which now I don’t know if it’s a curse or a blessing. Then I got a double whammy with my last name as English. No, I do not mean that as a descriptive noun. My “surnom” is English. And you don’t think that isn’t hell when I travel abroad? I could tell you stories with airport security, registering school, and the list goes on.

It is not necessary. I have been teaching ESL for 5 years and only speak English. In fact, my students prefer I don’t know their languages. It forces them to think in English-only.

Alan,
I totally agree with you.
Ron

If the student is at an intermediate or advanced level, I don’t think it really matters. However if the student is a beginner, then not having at least a decent grasp of the student’s native language can be a issue.

I mean think about it. You walk into a room where the teacher’s lectures and the textbooks are in a language on which you can’t understand a word. Getting started can be cumbersome to say the least. Probably the best thing you can do in a case like this is have a lot pictures that can help illustrate what you’re talking about.